Whitchurch

Currently we are just by Witchchurch a small town which sadly has seen better days. I think the recession has taken its hold with so many shops which are To Let. However it had a nice church and a few shops to peruse.

This morning we tackled our first staircase locks. Being very wise, we decided to moor just before them and went to see how they
worked so that we would be prepared. This is the Llagollen Canal in August we were warned about. There were boats everywhere and the Lock Keeper had a job in controlling the holiday makers. To avoid the rush, we decided to start the lock at 7am, so up bright and early, however, not quite understanding how the locks worked (despite watching the day before and reading the guide) , I filled the middle lock a bit too high causing a little overflow and got myself into a pickle. However, it all worked out in the end and I drove the boat perfectly through the staircase locks. Whilst I am self praising, I did a fantastic manoeuvre into the smallest mooring space; I was quite proud of myself.

Yesterday was far from relaxing and more like ‘Crystal Maze’. First I had to work a manual lift bridge, then our very useful mooring guide fell into the water which I had to fish our with the pole, I stopped traffic with an electronic lift bridge which clearly you needed a degree to operate, and finally had to reach for the umbrella which fell into the canal. All this and the usual locks. I have to say, the hot chocolate that we had at Grindley Brook was very well deserved.

On one of our evening walks we took a footpath through fields. It is so peaceful and all the background noise that you can hear is the cows and bird singing. As we walked through a field of cows we noticed that they were walking towards us and in a couple of minutes we were surrounded. I am guessing cows are friendly however, it was the most oddest experience to be scared of a herd of cows.

There has been some other oddities which I have never seen in London. The job advert for a herdsman, the chickens roaming freely in a petrol station and strangers being friendly.